victims_________________If I say "I love you" to someone, then I also have to say "I also love everyone else inside you, I love the whole world because of you, I also love myself inside you." -- Erich Fromm, the Art of Love

I think Muslims tend to assume people will make generalizations about them.
Muslims are decent people just like everyone else! It's impossible to group them all under one category..._________________peace-monger

hey if you wanna date you can do honeymoon here in Germany, beautiful lakes with swans_________________If I say "I love you" to someone, then I also have to say "I also love everyone else inside you, I love the whole world because of you, I also love myself inside you." -- Erich Fromm, the Art of Love

I have a general question about Islam... no offense intended... just curiosity.

Does "Islam" mean "Submission"? I ask because I've read about that somewhere before. I'm guessing that it's supposed to be submission to Allah, and I have no problems with that. But I'm just wondering if this tendency to "submit" in reference to a religion is affecting the Muslims in being able to govern themselves. I think not since there are quite a number of respectable Muslim countries that are quite capable of governing themselves (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Kuwait, etc.). So why are the Iraqis having a difficult time taking things into their own hands and start acting like they own the country and drive the insurgents out?

The insurgents are killing everyone, even fellow Iraqis. People want the US forces out (I'm not going to take sides on this issue), but does that mean the insurgents will stop killing fellow Iraqis? My concern is when will the REAL Iraqis (those who actually care about the future of Iraq and its people) decide to take charge? What's preventing them? Their religion? Their fear? It's as if the people in Iraq doesn't really care anymore... It's either terrorize or live in terror. Maybe the Saddam Hussein regime has had a detrimental effect on the will of the people, but it's been 3 yrs since 2003... And no neighboring countries are willing to give a hand... I feel for the Iraqi people, but when will they finally wake up and say "Enough is enough! This is our country and we are the ones who can control the insurgency!" Where's the nationalism? Where's the national pride?

Posted: Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:10 pm Post subject: Re: what do you think of Islam,and what do you think of musl

Azooz wrote:

i always wanted to know what peopl think about Islam and muslims, so can you please tell me your opinion?

Thanks

I don't know... I have the utmost respect for all religions, including Islam. But for some reason, there's this "fear" about offending Islam and something bad would happen... Just take the Pope for example... He quoted some historical text about Islam and things went out of hand. His speech was taken out of context, he apologized, yet people were not only offended, they were furious.

The funny thing is, the Pope quoted something about violence and Islam... and the people protested... with violence! What irony! Of course, those who were violent were only a tiny fraction, but it gave a bad image for Islam and will falsely cause people to associate violence with Islam. Yet, peaceful muslims did not condemn those violent protesters... and I don't know why.

My impression is that muslims are probably the most misunderstood group of people. They are very attached to their faith (which is not a bad thing). However, perhaps overly emotional with their religion. Why is that not a good idea? Because emotion and logic/reasoning reside on different sides of the brain. When you use one side the ability to use the other side becomes slightly impaired. Think about it, when you're angry or sad, it's difficult to think things through or be reasonable. People who are calm and cool-headed are usually the people who can be reasonable and think things way out of tight situations. That's why people always say "When you're angry, count to 10 to calm down" because you need to use the logic side of the brain to count, and that takes the focus off the emotional side.

Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:27 pm Post subject: Re: what do you think of Islam,and what do you think of musl

BourneNOIR wrote:

Azooz wrote:

i always wanted to know what peopl think about Islam and muslims, so can you please tell me your opinion?

Thanks

I don't know... I have the utmost respect for all religions, including Islam. But for some reason, there's this "fear" about offending Islam and something bad would happen... Just take the Pope for example... He quoted some historical text about Islam and things went out of hand. His speech was taken out of context, he apologized, yet people were not only offended, they were furious.

The funny thing is, the Pope quoted something about violence and Islam... and the people protested... with violence! What irony! Of course, those who were violent were only a tiny fraction, but it gave a bad image for Islam and will falsely cause people to associate violence with Islam. Yet, peaceful muslims did not condemn those violent protesters... and I don't know why.

My impression is that muslims are probably the most misunderstood group of people. They are very attached to their faith (which is not a bad thing). However, perhaps overly emotional with their religion. Why is that not a good idea? Because emotion and logic/reasoning reside on different sides of the brain. When you use one side the ability to use the other side becomes slightly impaired. Think about it, when you're angry or sad, it's difficult to think things through or be reasonable. People who are calm and cool-headed are usually the people who can be reasonable and think things way out of tight situations. That's why people always say "When you're angry, count to 10 to calm down" because you need to use the logic side of the brain to count, and that takes the focus off the emotional side.

Wonderful point.
If you're not careful, the emotional side can "take over" the logical side, and you'll end up KILLING people to promote your PEACE-seeking religion.
Hey wait-- that's actually happened once or twice! _________________peace-monger

A more pertinent question is - What do muslims think about other religions?
I'm curious.

I have a friend from Thailand, and HE has a friend from Iran.
I asked my Thai friend to ask the Iranian what he thought of Jews (yes, I knew what I might be getting into!)
Turns out, the Iranian said he thought Jews were fine people, just like everyone else.
Seems like a perfect answer to me! _________________peace-monger

Ironically, it's the muslims who gave the name 'Hindu' to Hindus and also inadvertently assigned it the status of a religion.
In effect, Hinduism was a nameless culture (a way of life) with regional variations, and not exactly a religion. When the muslims invaded India, they had to cross the river Sindhu (now in Pakistan), and 'Hindu' is a corruption of Sindhu, coined by them to commonly refer to everyone in the region beyond the river.
They influenced Indian culture to some extent. For instance, they induced in us a love for Urdu Gazals (poetry), just as the British induced the craze for cricket.